The Detroit Red Wings have long had the philosophy that prospects need to be "ripe" before they make the jump to the National Hockey League. That means after getting drafted, our prospects spend around 3-5 years between junior or overseas and the AHL before finally getting their shot in the NHL. This has proven to be successful for many years now and I don't see them drastically changing that system any time soon.

That philosophy made sense when we arguably had better veteran players in Detroit.Last couple of seasons,not so much. We had an opportunity to watch a lot of kids from Grand Rapids due to injuries and surprisingly none of them underperformed.Yes,reasonably they had rookie mistakes,but not more bone head plays than proven veterans like Cleary,Bert or Quincey.

It's not only that ufa's don't want to sign here anymore,our own prospects lost confidence in his abilities...see under Tatar,Jarnkrok or Almquist lately,both assistant coaches left,Stevie and Nill left,Babcock didn't re-sign yet... must have something with good ole Kenny.